J.Paul’s to Close by Year-End
By • November 19, 2018 0 2021
Add another classic Georgetown saloon to the restaurant history list. J.Paul’s, an American Dining Saloon, was the flagship of restaurateur Paul Cohn, who launched other eateries in the 1980s. It will close by the end of 2018.
Cohn, who started J.Paul’s Dining Saloon at 3218 M St. NW in 1982, departed Capital Restaurant Concepts in 2014. The company he co-founded with Bechara Nammour in 1984 grew to include J.Paul’s, Paolo’s, Neyla, Old Glory and Georgia Brown’s, as well as the River Club and Club Zei. Almost all now have closed.
Known to residents and tourists alike, the friendly, lively eatery offered ample drinks and food, along with an oyster and shrimp bar.
As J.Paul’s liked to boast, it has “a 100-year old mahogany shotgun bar, previously housed in a grand saloon in the Chicago stockyards and many will swear over their scotch that Al Capone himself bellied up to that very bar. Iconic antique brass elevator doors from New York’s Waldorf Astoria frame the back dining room and add to the turn-of-the-century charm.”
